First report of amber with spider webs and microbial inclusions from the earliest Cretaceous ( c . 140 Ma) of Hastings, Sussex

Abstract

Early Cretaceous amber resins with macroscopic inclusions are extremely rare, as are ambers with inclusions from the parent plant. Here, we report earliest Cretaceous amber resins found within alluvial soils of the Ashdown Formation near Hastings in Sussex. In contrast to younger Cretaceous examples, this Hastings amber was arguably deposited shortly before the emergence of the earliest flowering plant communities c . 140 Ma BP. Preliminary studies reveal plentiful organic inclusions, including vascular tissues, tracheid cells and putative resin ducts of the parent coniferous trees. We also report remarkably preserved soil microbes, including structures comparable with actinobacterial colonies, putative fungal or cyanobacterial filaments, and the earliest examples of spider silk webs. The last includes threads that are twisted, paired and coated with sticky fluid droplets, comparable with those of araneoid spider webs studied by us in modern cherry tree resins. Together, these Hastings amber inclusions became entombed within resins that seeped through the charred bark of coniferous trees subjected to severe fire damage, whose logs were then swept onto fluvial wetlands by floods. Embalming resins of this kind may have evolved to combat damage associated with insects, fungi and widespread forest fires.

Remarkable preservation of brain tissues in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur

“…Beckles 1854), as well as amber with probable microbial inclusions. This level lies above beds in the Ashdown Formation containing amber with the oldest known spider silk (Brasier et al 2009). …”

“…These are consistent with a seasonal wetland depositional environment subject to occasional forest fires (cf. Brasier et al 2009). …”

Mesozoic (Late Jurassic) palynomorphs and charcoal from a sandstone pebble from Quaternary glacial deposits of the North Sea

“…). There is also widespread evidence for wildfires (charcoal and inertinites) in other Lower Cretaceous sediments from southern England and northern Germany (Watson and Alvin, ; Brasier et al ., ; Glasspool and Scott, ; Brown et al ., ).…”

Filamentous micro-organisms, inorganic inclusions and pseudo-fossils in the Miocene amber from Totolapa (Chiapas, Mexico): taphonomy and systematics

“…sheathed bacteria) and fungi (Rikkinen and Poinar, 2000;Rikkinen, 2003;Brasier et al, 2009;Beimforde and Schmidt, 2011;Breton, 2011). Compared with taphonomic processes involved for other marine or continental fossils, this leads to a very particular taphonomic process: resinicolous microbes are able to grow within the resin (Schmidt and Schäfer, 2005;Schmidt, 2006;Beimforde and Schmidt, 2011).…”

“…The latest studies have shown that many of these micro-organisms were resinicolous organisms that grew in resin, and soon after its production, colonized the exudate and embedded themselves within resin in a quite different way than trapped micro-organisms (pollen for instance) or macro-organisms (insects for instance). Moreover, the taphonomic significances of both processes, enhanced by the studies on modern resin exudates, are quite different (Rikkinen and Poinar, 2000;Rikkinen, 2003;Breton, 2007;Brasier et al, 2009;Girard et al, 2009a,d;Beimforde and Schmidt, 2011;Breton, 2011Breton, , 2012.…”